NBA Rumors: Luka Dončić’s Playing Style Deters Some Players from Joining Mavericks

Adam WellsFebruary 14, 2024

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Luka Dončić is the main reason the Dallas Mavericks are a factor in the Western Conference playoff race, but his style of play might also be hindering them from bringing some players into the fold.

On the latest episode of The Hoop Collective Podcast (starts at 26:45 mark), ESPN’s Tim MacMahon pointed out Dončić’s ball dominance is a turn-off for certain players across the league:

“As great of a player as Luka is, and we just talked about him being one of four legit MVP candidates this year, he is as ball-dominant as any player in the league, and there are guys around the league, I’m sure you guys have both talked to players, who don’t necessarily want to play with Luka because of that.”

This might be a growing topic of conversation around the NBA. Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma told The Athletic’s Josh Robbins that team president Michael Winger presented him with a trade offer before the deadline that would have sent him to Dallas.

“There was a point in time, Dallas, they definitely did want me. Winger presented me with what the trade was and obviously didn’t want to trade me and kind of left the decision up to me a little bit and asked me what I wanted to do,” Kuzma said. “I told him I wanted to stay and continue to build something. And that was kind of the end of it.”

Robbins noted it was unclear what the Mavericks’ offer to Washington was. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said (starts at 6:00 mark) on Tuesday’s episode of NBA Today he believes the offer included two first-round picks that Dallas would end up using in deals for Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington.

Kuzma’s decision isn’t necessarily an indication he didn’t want to play with Dončić, but it’s unusual to see a player who doesn’t have an actual no-trade clause get some power to veto a trade and use it to avoid going to a playoff contender.

Windhorst said on 105.3 The Fan’s Shan and RJ show in June 2021 that there might not be many players excited about playing with Dončić because he can be perceived as being difficult.

“He’s a great player but when you watch the Mavericks play, he’s barking at the coach, he’s barking at his teammates, he’s barking at the officials. He’s always barking about something,” Windhorst said. “He can really be an irritable guy.”

Max Strus said on the Road Trippin’ podcast in December 2022 (h/t Shandel Richardson of SI.com) that it might be difficult to play with Dončić because “it’s tougher for guys to get in a rhythm” due to how ball-dominant he is.

This could also be a chicken-or-egg argument where the Mavericks haven’t had that many great players around Dončić, so he has to control the ball as much as he does.

Jalen Brunson started to evolve into the player he is now after playing his first four seasons in Dallas. Kyrie Irving is averaging 25.2 points on 19.6 field-goal attempts per game this season.

Dončić is averaging career-highs in points (34.3), field-goal attempts (23.5) and assists (9.6) per game this season.

This has worked well enough to get the Mavericks off to a 31-23 record so far this season. They are currently seventh in the Western Conference, one game behind the New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns.